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Tenya’s earliest memories are of running.
Even before his Quirk came in, that was all he wanted to do. He remembered racing around the schoolyard with the other children, making engine noises with his mouth, daydreaming of the day his engines would grow in, and he’d be a hero like his big brother.
And it was no different now. He was still running. His body was built for it, his engines more streamlined than his brother’s. Tensei used to tell him that he’d surpass him one day. He’d be the fastest in the family. He’d leave Ingenium in the dust.
He’d taken up the name instead. And now he ran twice as hard, carrying his brother’s name as high and fast as he could.
…
Nabu Island.
What had started as an experience in real hero work had turned into a nightmare when villains had descended on the island. With communication and transportation cut off, the students of class 1-A were the only heroes these people had to protect them.
They’d been beaten. Driven back. Cornered. They could only pray that Yaoyorozu’s drone reached someone in time…and that Midoriya’s plan would work. Tenya, Todoroki, Kirishima, and Tsu had been sent to ambush one of the villains, who had a mutation Quirk that gave him the features of several different animals. He wasn’t sure they could stop the villain, but they could at least keep him from joining his leader in the assault against the castle ruins.
They should be enough. They had to be enough.
Hold him here.
Tsu’s toxin should have worked, and for a fleeting moment Tenya thought it had. The villain known as Chimera stumbled, body shaking. He sank to one knee, hands spasming.
“Why…why can’t I move?”
“There’s a reason we were using the same attacks over and over,” Todoroki replied. He was holding himself up well, but Tenya knew he was favoring one leg.
“My legs,” Tenya said, drawing Chimera’s attention back to him, “and Kirishima’s hands. They were coated with a toxic substance Asui secreted.”
He ignored her pleas to just call her Tsu, and Kirishima’s taunting words about finally catching the villain. It couldn’t possibly be this easy. This man had nearly wiped them all out at the beach, and there had been more of them. They didn’t have Sato’s strength now, or Tokoyami’s shadow, or Sero’s tape. The only real restraint they had was Todoroki’s ice, but he’d seen Chimera shatter through that with a fraction of his strength.
“Don’t be so insolent.”
Tenya braced himself at the man’s snarled words. Chimera twitched and twisted. His arms burst out of his sleeves, thick feathers with razor-sharp points bristling from elbow to elbow. His legs twisted, claw-like feet doubling in size to clench down on the muddy soil.
“I’ll show you,” he sneered, teeth glistening as his muzzle grew until it was more like a tiger’s than a wolf’s, “why I’ve been called a monster my entire life!”
Todoroki caught it a second before Tenya did, sending up a wall of ice to protect them when light burst out of Chimera’s mouth. They could feel the heat of it even through the ice, and as Tenya stared the ice began to sag even as Todoroki tried to strengthen it.
“Let’s go, Tsu!” he called. He caught Todoroki around the waist and ran, all but slinging his classmate over his shoulder as he did. Tsu could move fast, and her movements would be too erratic for Chimera to catch her easily. When he checked over his shoulder, she’d grabbed Kirishima with her tongue and was pulling him along behind her.
One of his engines spluttered, but he forced himself to move. The beam from Chimera’s mouth lit up the sky with a dark red hue, burning everything it touched.
He’d seen the crater of a volcano once, from a helicopter. With Chimera roaring and burning everything he saw, it felt like he was trapped on the edge of the caldera.
The four of them took shelter behind a rock, and Tenya gave his classmates a quick glance to check for injuries. Kirishima looked a little singed and Tsu had a bruise on her cheek, but they were all right.
Tenya tapped his foot against the ground, checking his engines. “I don’t have much recipro left,” he commented, glancing at Todoroki. The other boy startled a bit, then nodded.
“Make an opening for me,” he said. When Tenya didn’t reply immediately, he leaned in closer. “I need to be able to touch him.”
“And then what?” Kirishima asked.
“I have an idea.”
…
Run.
The last of his recipro burning through his engines, Tenya ran.
Chimera roared and fired at him, and he forced himself to put on an extra burst of speed to stay ahead of the beam.
Keep him distracted. Keep his eyes away from the others.
Away from Tsu, who’d camouflaged herself and snuck in close to the ground in case they needed backup. Away from Kirishima, for as long as possible, who was the key to their defense. Away from Todoroki, who was their only chance at winning.
His recipro failed and he stumbled, but Chimera noticed the other boys and turned to fire on Kirishima. Tenya could only watch in horror as Kirishima was washed over in a brilliant red light, hardening his body to withstand the blast.
And then, behind him. Over him. A spike of ice, Todoroki perched on the end of it. Up and over, launching himself through the air to catch hold of one of Chimera’s horns. Frost was flaring up his right arm, steaming in the heat of the flames.
Run.
Recipro was gone, but that wouldn’t stop him. Tenya threw himself forward, sprinting toward the villain. There was nothing left in his engines but he had to move. Tsu sprang up, wrapping Chimera’s arms with her tongue to keep him from pulling Todoroki off as the villain tried to swat him away.
Run.
His body seemed to move on its own. Nothing but pure adrenaline could fuel him now, the pain of overusing his engines a distant worry. Faster. Faster. The distance yawned between them, too far to cross with time running out.
Tsu whipped through the air at the end of Chimera’s arm. Kirishima hadn’t gotten up. Todoroki was barely holding on.
Run!
One last burst of speed. One last rush. He leapt and thrust a leg out, blocking Chimera’s tail as it swung at Todoroki. He knocked it away, then threw himself over it to pin it down. Tenya was tall and broad, and his hero suit was heavy. He had to hold him down.
“Do it!” he called over his shoulder as the muscular tail tried to fling him off. He held on, clenching his teeth, calling on the final reserves of his strength.
A burst of cold washed over his back for a split second, then he was hurled through the air and his head struck something hard.
The world went dark.
…
Cold.
His head ached, like he’d been split open from ear to ear. Tenya groaned and rolled onto his side, forcing himself to sit up and open his eyes. The world was still a hellish storm of fire, but familiar shards of ice split the earth around them.
Tsu lay close by, blood matting her hair, and Tenya stumbled over to her.
“Tsu?” He yanked one of his gloves off and felt for her pulse, relaxing a little when it felt strong and steady under his touch. “Are you all right, Tsu?”
She groaned. “Did we get him?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied. His head was still spinning, and his eyes were having trouble focusing as he looked around. Ice splintered off around the clearing like the points of a snowflake, and in the center of that knelt Chimera’s massive form. He wasn’t moving, ice frosted along his body and bursting out of his open mouth.
“You guys okay?” Kirishima was close to Chimera, and Tenya realized he was crouching over Todoroki.
“We’ll manage,” he called back. “You?”
Kirishima stretched his arms out in front of him and grimaced. “Feels like I got a wicked sunburn, but I’ll manage. Todoroki’s got some frostbite going on, but I think he’s okay.”
“Let’s regroup over here,” Tenya suggested, sinking back down to sit next to Tsu, who had managed to sit up.
“On our way,” Kirishima called. He hauled Todoroki up, who was conscious but shivering, and they slowly picked their way over to the other two.
“What do we do now?” Tsu asked.
Tenya leaned back on his hands. The sky above them was roiling with clouds and lightning, and he could hear the sounds of battle up near the castle ruins.
But the four of them were in no position to assist their classmates. They needed to rest and regroup…and wait for help.
“We can’t help them now,” he finally said. “We’ll just have to wait here and believe in our classmates.”
They could do it. They were heroes, after all.